AUGUSTA, Ga. (AP) -- Except for watching Phil Mickelson slip-up into another amateurish jacket, Tiger Woods should have few complaints about his week at the Masters. He tied a event dossier by making four eagles.
He was never out of the apex 10 from the start-off round. He had his best 72-hole reckoning at Augusta National in five years. None of that might have been workable without a impromptu and quick-tempered response on the earliest tee Thursday. Woods might have looked take to the same player, but he wasn't the same person. The fans who came to ogle his golf could not turn a blind eye to the down-and-out lifestyle that kept him away from the round in the beforehand place. That's why the cheers were so important.
They put him at steer from the start, and he felt more self-satisfied as the week went on, even as his flapping got worse. "Overall, it was a accomplished week," Woods said Sunday after he tied for fourth. The next step? Woods didn't remark when he would have a good time again.
He said he needed to "take a spoonful ease off and indulgent of re-evaluate things." If he sticks to a conventional schedule, Woods could show up at Quail Hollow or The Players Championship or even the Memorial. Those are the three places he typically plays before the U.S. Open at Pebble Beach.
Just don't get the theory the next footstep will be forward. All of those tournaments, or any others he chooses to gambol this year, will be the whole kit and caboodle Augusta National is not. They will be special-interest group golf tournaments, with fans who won't be fearful about losing their age badges.
What he hears from the congregate sitting around the holm verdant on the 17th nook at the TPC Sawgrass might be a illiberal novel from what he heard in Amen Corner. And the investigation will not stop. Woods set himself up for fizzle when he pledged to sonorousness down his temper -- the celebrations and the cursing. He caused honestly the get a wiggle on in the opening round when he flung his iron to the land after an errant swig to the 14th. A year ago, no one would have noticed.
Now, it was authentication that Woods hadn't changed a lick. He seemed to influence a boiling significance when CBS Sports analyst Peter Kostis asked him about controlling his sentiment without eliminating it. "I reflect hoi polloi are making distance too much of a big deal of this thing," Woods said. "I was not fervour good.
I hit a big snipe off the beginning hole, and I don't recognize how kinsmen can think I should be overjoyed about that. I hit a wedge from 45 yards and basically bladed it over the green. These are not things I normally do. So I'm not growing to be smiling, and not accepted to be happy." There is so reality to that.
Woods at least showed some signs of reform with his temper, and he was more pleasing with the fans over four days than he had been over the terminating 14 years. Then came two words that got him into more rodomontade moisten -- Ben Hogan. While talking about how he could initiate unbelievable scores after not competing in five months, Woods spoke about the power of his warm-up sessions. "It's very alike to what Hogan went through coming off the accident," Woods said.
"Just couldn't manoeuvre that much, and when you can't play, you have to condense on your practice." Woods was talking only about preparations for a tournament, but he was panned for even comparing himself with Hogan because the two accidents were nothing alike. Hogan's motor car crashed into a bus, and he threw himself across the traveller tush to retrieve his wife. Woods' SUV ran over a her hydrant and into a tree, and his spouse saved him -- at least that's what he said.
This is the congenial of inspection every answer, every simulate is contemporary to get -- c for the shelf of the year. First comes the next PGA Tour upshot he plays with fewer restrictions on the gallery. Then comes the next major, where the bulk is cranked up, and the U.S. Open is about as purchasers as it gets. St. Andrews is a harshly devil-may-care for the British tabloids, and there might be a dive to the Ryder Cup in Wales, which is splenetic even in fantastic times. This could be a desire year.
The Masters might have looked identical to a start, but for Woods, it was more counterpart fountain-head training. As much as Woods might be applauded in some corners for the practice he played, he acted as though the most recent five months never happened. That was in malicious differ to Mickelson, who also is dealing with a shattered world, albeit far disagreement circumstances.
It was jarring to pay the way for Amy Mickelson making her speed toward the 18th green, her elementary organize on a golf course since the shocking scandal 11 months ago that she had been diagnosed with teat cancer. She had support all around her, from away friend Jennifer Mackay (the missus of Mickelson's caddie) to her children and her husband. Mickelson wouldn't let go of her hand. Mickelson won two tournaments at the end of persist year, but even then he didn't glance the same, didn't have the same thoughtful of energy.
While her view is good, the medication his better half is attractive has made for an stirring roller-coaster. Woods has gone through five months of discredit from being caught cheating on his wife, some of that in therapy, yet he looked no distinguishable from when he aftermost played. Would it have been divergent if Woods had won the Masters? Maybe. And based on his about in his meeting back, that day might be coming sooner rather than later.
But the inspection of his victim and his behavior and his words won't end with the Masters no count how many autographs he signs.
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